Death of a Comrade, Birth of Legends
by Mountain Sage
Summary: What if Haku accidently killed Sasuke when they fought on the bridge? how would this affect the lives of Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno? will they let it destroy them, or will Kakshi lead them to greatness?
1. Chapter 1

Death of a Shinobi, Birth of a Legend

The battle was over. The mist had cleared. Zabuza and Haku were dead. But the lifeless form Naruto stood over wasn't the Demon of the Mist, or his young apprentice. It was the form of Sasuke uchiha.

In the battle against Haku many of the senbon needles Haku threw were misplaced. They hit vital organs, causing massive internal bleeding, the final strike to the neck had been the end to it. The life left the young avenger, putting an end to all his hopes and dreams.

Now Naruto stood over him, tears welling up in his eyes, with a little pink haired kunoichi sobbing over his corpse. He couldn't help but think that this was his fault. That if he had been stronger that Sasuke wouldn't have died protecting him.

In that moment he came to a conclusion. If he was going to protect those around him he would have to be stronger. He would never allow this to happen again while he was alive to do something about it. He would protect his friends even if it cost him his life.

Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of an evil laugh. "Thank you for getting rid of that pathetic mercenary for me, and his annoying little apprentice. You just saved me a lot of trouble." All present on the bridge turned to see Gatou with a giant group of hired thugs, all carrying weapons. "Now prepare to die."

Anger rushed through Naruto as he looked at the greedy, merciless, pathetic excuse of a man that had hired the people who killed Sasuke, the person he considered his first friend and best rival. Suddenly he felt the same feeling he felt when protecting Iruka-sensei, but this time he would show no mercy.

He formed his favorite seal and created an army of over 500 shadow clones. They looked at Gatou and all said the same thing. "Prepare to die, Gatou, this is for Sasuke!"

When Sakura saw the amount of shadow clones she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Naruto, the dead last in the academy, the class clown, the village pariah, a person who couldn't create three bunshins, could create 500 solid clones. Since when?

Kakashi was a little less shocked, knowing how much chakra Naruto possessed, but that didn't stop him from being surprised. Not only at Naruto's army, but at his declaration of loyalty to his fallen comrade.

Gatou was feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time. Fear. Fear in the form of a twelve year old boy. Fear so intense that he was rooted to the spot in which he was standing. And as the boy attacked, his clones taking out his henchmen, while more came at him wit kunai in hand, he knew that no amount of money or power could save him from this little boy.

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Gatou was dead. The bridge was nearly complete. The wave country was regaining its economic stability and everything was returning to normal. Except Sasuke was still dead, and nothing was going to change that. After the battle Kakashi had called in reinforcements from Konoha to take care of the bodies of Zabuza, Haku and Sasuke. When the rest of team seven got back to Konoha the funeral would be held.

Today found Kakashi walking in to a forest to find the blonde shinobi who had not returned to the house the night before.

He found him lying beneath a large tree that had slash marks going up the side as if attacked by some wild animal. He was using the kunai that he was practicing with the night before as a teddy bear and was snoring loudly. Conduct hardly befitting a ninja, even if he was a fresh genin.

Kakashi shook his young student to wake him up. Naruto let out a huge yawn as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He then noticed Kakashi.

"What are you doing out here sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, you didn't return to the house last night." Kakashi replied.

"I was training; I need to be stronger so this never happens again. I can't let my shortcomings cause the lives of my comrades." Naruto said as he got up, giving Kakashi a serious look that few people had seen. In that one moment Kakashi saw beneath the metaphorical mask Naruto put up in public, and he liked what he saw. He saw a changed person. Willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his friends and his village.

He didn't notice the look of surprise on Kakashi's face. Though few would because of the literal mask that Kakashi wore, covering up all but a small portion of his face.

"I must say I'm quite impressed by you Naruto. Instead of getting depressed and wallowing in self pity you're trying to improve yourself to help those around you. Your loyalty to your friends and to your village is something to be envied. How about this? When we get back to the village and after Sauske's memorial we will start training harder than we ever trained before.

Needless to say this helped lift Naruto's spirits if just by a little. And as he walked back to the Tazuna's house he thought about what he would be learn. He had no clue that Kakashi was already planning put torturous way to improve his team's strength. And that the tragic death of the last loyal Uchiha had affected him as well.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I wish I did.

_Italics_: thought

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Clouds filled the sky adding to the gloom that was felt today. There were people of all shapes, ages, and sizes gathered around in memorial. Today was a sad day for the village hidden in the leaves. It almost seemed like the whole village was gathering to mourn the death of the last loyal Uchiha. Not only did the village lose a powerful ninja with much potential, they had also lost hope for the future of the Uchiha clan. As the memorial progressed a light rain began to fall adding to the sullen atmosphere.

The surviving members of team seven paid little attention to the words that were being spoken about Sasuke, only catching cliché phrases like '….his fire burned out to soon…' and '…will be remember and dearly missed by his friends…'

Naruto was thinking about the friendship he was beginning to develop with Sasuke. He knew it would never have been a very strong friendship, but it was his first bond and he had a lot of hope for it.

Sakura was mourning the loss of her first crush. Although she knew the raven haired boy had no interest in her she always hoped that she could improve herself enough that he would take notice of her.

But now the tie between Naruto and Sasuke were cut short, and whatever could have happened between him and Sakura could never be.

The rain was falling harder and harder. Naruto was glad for this because where Sakura was openly weeping; the rain was hiding the presence of the tears rolling down his whiskered cheeks.

One by one people walked up to the memorial that had been set up. A single picture of Sasuke had been put up. It was a picture of him when he was younger, one of the few they could find of him smiling. They each paid their respects before placing a single white flower on the coffin.

Naruto Watched as the crowd of mourners dispersed. They were genuinely sad, but he knew over time they would slowly forget Sasuke and that someday he would just be a distant memory. He wasn't go to be like them. He would never forget what Sasuke did for him no matter what, and he would find a way to pay him back for saving his life.

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Naruto was sitting on top of the Hokage monument. He had taken refuge on the head of the third Hokage. This was the spot that Naruto came to whenever he needed refuge from the village. He usually came here when the angry glares from the villagers became too much to handle.

Since the encounter with Mizuki where it was revealed to him that he was the Kyuubi container he understood better why they hated him so much, but it was still hard to handle. Now he feared it was going to get worse. Everyone knew that he was on the same team as Sasuke, many openly objected that the Uchiha heir be placed on the same team as a demon. He feared that they were going to blame him for his death, make him a scapegoat for their anger again and that the death threats might return.

It was really thanks to the hokage that Naruto had survived his younger age. The orphanage had abused him so he had to be moved into his own apartment when he was five. ANBU followed him throughout town when he was younger to make sure no one attacked him. He was almost denied entrance into the academy, until the Hokage rallied for him. Most feared that he would become a ruthless killing machine and eventually bring about the destruction of the village.

But Naruto was going to prove them all wrong. He was going to become the strongest shinobi in the history of the village, then he was going to become the best Hokage, surpassing the previous leaders, and everyone was going to see that he wasn't some evil, demonic being. They would see he was a shinobi of the village hidden in the leaves and he loved his village and everyone in it and would protect it with every fiber of his being.

But until then he would put up with the glares and the threats and the people blaming him for the death of their friends and family all those years ago when the demon attacked and he had the burden of carrying the demon for the safety of the village.

The time passed quickly and before he knew it, it was almost midnight and most of the village had retired for the night. He took one last look at the village below him before getting up to head back to his apartment.

He ran across the rooftops, appreciating the feel of the cool night air rushing across his face. He ran as fast as he could while enjoying the feeling of exertion he was putting on his body. He loved to run. He had gotten quite good at it, having a lot of practice after pulling pranks. He most enjoyed painting the stone faces of the Hokage's, seeing it as a testament of skill that not only could he sneak up there and paint all the faces without getting caught, but that he could outrun the jounin that were chasing him.

When he got to his apartment building he entered as quietly as he could, so he would not wake anyone and risk getting chewed out and threatened with eviction again. He knew the Hokage would never allow him to get kicked out for no good reason, but that didn't make the landlord any more bearable. He reached his apartment and went inside, found his bed, and without even changing into his pajamas fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

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Three days later

Bright morning sunshine shown through the windows, falling on Naruto's face, but that wasn't what woke him.

Kakashi stood over him with an empty glass of water. The contents had been poured onto Naruto's head when he couldn't wake the little blonde up.

"Kakashi-sensei, what was that for?!" Naruto yelled.

"That was for making me pound on your door for ten minute, just to get yelled at by your neighbor, then break in to your house to get you to wake up. Be glad it wasn't ice water."

"Okay, but why are you here? It's really early."

"First lesson, a ninja must be aware of his surroundings, even when he's asleep." Kakashi said, crossing his arms and giving Naruto a one eyed stare.

"That's what you sneaked into my house to do?" Naruto said as he jumped out of bed pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi.

"No, I left a note on your door yesterday that we would be doing some early morning training, but I guess you didn't get it."

"Oh yeah, I guess I was out a little late last night doing a little training myself, so I was pretty tired when I got here." He said putting his hands behind his head with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Well hurry up and get ready, Sakura is waiting outside for us and she doesn't like to wait."

"Tell her to come inside while get ready, it will take a few minutes."

With that Kakashi walked out of the room to go get Sakura, and Naruto got a fresh orange jumpsuit out of his closet and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

When Sakura walked into Naruto's apartment she was surprised to see the mess. In the kitchen there were empty ramen cups all over the counters, in the small living room there was a shabby little couch that had rips on it and there was dust, and dirty clothes everywhere. She sat down on the couch and decided he probably didn't get many visitors, if any, so he probably didn't have any reason to clean, but is still wasn't okay to leave you apartment this dirty.

When Naruto stepped out of his bathroom a few minutes later she confronted him.

"Naruto, your apartment is a mess! You shouldn't let it get this messy!" she yelled, getting up from the couch to stand eye level with him.

"Sorry Sakura," he said scratching the back of his head. "I'll get right on it." He formed the ram seal and created four shadow clones. "Clean this place up while I'm gone." He then turned back to where Kakashi and Sakura where standing with confused looks on their faces.

"Naruto, you use shadow clones to clean your apartment?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure I do, that way I don't have to do it, and they can clean faster. Now can we go train?" His replied, looking proud of his ingenious idea.

"Well I thought we would go out to get something to eat first. I'm guessing you're a little hungry."

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Sarutobi left the office every once in a while to take a walk around town. Being Hokage wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and he needed a break from the paperwork.

Today as was walking through town he heard many loud feminine shouts and turned to look around to see a familiar sight. A man with long white hair, a long sleeve green shirt with a red vest over it and a scroll on his back was leading the pack and desperately trying to get away from the enraged women. The Hokage sighed as he watched his most perverted student ran towards him, not even taking notice of his former sensei.

At the last second as Jiraiya ran past him he put his arm out, clothes lining him. Jiraiya fell to the ground and looked up to see who it was who stopped him. The women giving chase stopped too.

"Holy hell! Sensei!" Jiraiya yelled realizing who it was.

'Oh, I'm glad your back in town Jiraiya, I have a job for you." The hokage said, with a smile in his face. "you ladies run along, I'll take care of the pervert for you"

"Hey, how do you know I was being a pervert?!" Jiraiya yelled, offended

"Well I doubt they were chasing you for your looks, I'm guessing you were doing more 'research'" Sarutobi said, his smile growing as the perverted sannin got up from the ground rubbing his head.

"So what's this job you were talking about?' Jiraya asked, taking on a serious attitude.

"We can't talk about it here, lets go to my office." Sarutobi said, glad that things were finally getting a little more interesting.

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Sorry about the cliffhanger, I've always wanted to try one of those. Tell me what you think. If there are any mistakes or if you have any questions/suggestions let me know. Sorry about the wait, too. Its coming up on finals week so I've been working a lot and I couldn't get anything done last week due to thanksgiving.

Review please.


	3. Chapter 3

Dislcamer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in this story.

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"What is it that you wanted to see me about sensei?" Jiraiya asked, with an uncharacteristically serious tone of voice.

"I believe there is something that you have been neglecting to do, one of your most important duties," Sarutobi said from behind his desk.

Jiraiya had an idea where this conversation was going and was hoping that his hunch was incorrect.

"Have you seen your godson since the night of Minato's death, Jiraiya? Have you spoken to him at all? Does he know who you are?"

"I believe the more important question is does _he_ know who he is?"

"No, he doesn't, he doesn't know anything of his parents and is still unaware of the fact that he has a god father, but that is still no excuse to at least get to know him." Sarutobi leveled a glare at Jiraiya that made him bow his head in shame.

"Well what was I supposed to do, walk up to him and say 'hi you don't know me, but lets be friends? How was I supposed to approach him? I've been out of the village for so long!" Jiraiya retorted, his voice raising in anger.

"You should have been there from the beginning. You didn't have to tell him any thing about being his godparent; you didn't have to be his friend! All you had to do was show a little interest in a lonely kid's life." The hokage stood up planting his hands firmly on his desk, getting angry now at his former students selfishness. "Do you have any idea how hard his life has been? The whole village turned against him, because of their parents hate no kid would be his friend, and now the only person who has been remotely friendly to him is dead! "

"I know your spy network is important to the village, but someone else could have been trained to take over those responsibilities. You haven't been back to the village in years, so maybe you don't know about the death threats he's been issued, or even the fact that his own _sensei _at the academy tricked him into stealing the forbidden scroll and then tried to kill him. Do you think that would have happened if people knew he had Jiraiya of the legendary sannin to watch his back? Because I highly doubt that it would have."

"But sensei, when Minato and Kushina died it hurt—"

"—it hurt all of us, but you have to get over that pain at some point or another, for their sons sake!"

A long silence entailed and Jiraiya knew his old teacher was right. He was being selfish and his godson was suffering for it, but that wouldn't make getting to know him any easier. From the little time he had seen him around the village, he looked like a younger version of his father, and that only served to remind him of what he had lost. The hokage slowly sat back down, reigning in his anger.

"You're right sensei,' Jiraiya said. "I should have been here for the boy, and I guess I'll have to introduce myself soon. Now is there anything else you wanted to talk about?

"As a matter of fact, there is. After this year's chuunin exam, I plan on retiring, and I want you to go find my replacement."

"Go _find_ your replacement?" Jiraiya asked, confused why he had to find this person, wouldn't it be someone who was in the village? Or at least belonged to the village. "Wait a minute, you don't mean…but she hasn't been in the village for years, how am I supposed to go find her"

"You know Tsunade, just go to anywhere with a casino, you'll find her eventually." Sarutobi paused for a moment then suggested; "why don't you take Naruto with you? It will be good for him to get out of the village and it would be a good time to get to know him better."

Jiraiya grimaced. "I'll think about taking him, but I'm not promising anything."

As he was about to leave Sarutobi stopped him.

"One last thing before you leave, why were all those women chasing you?"

"You know me sensei, just doing a little research." Jiraiya said. He then turn and left, leaving the old hokage alone with his thoughts.

'_Of all the things I hope he teaches Naruto, his lechery isn't one of them'_

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_Achoo!_

"Naruto, you've been sneezing a lot, are you sick?"

"I feel fine Kakashi-sensei, now what was this special training you were telling me about?"

Team seven was now at the trainings grounds, after getting a quick breakfast they were exited to get to training. Today was their first day of actual training since the funeral.

"Right," Kakashi said, "I was saying that I have been thinking recently about how to cut down on your training time so that you can learn more in a sorter amount of time. I'm sorry Sakura, but you won't be able to use this method."

"Why not?" sakura asked. _What can Naruto do that I can't; I mean I'm a lot smarter that him, so how hard can it be?_

"It requires the ability to use mass amounts of kage bunshins, which you don't have enough chakra to use." Kakashi answered. "Now Naruto, what are the advantages of your shadow clones?"

"Um...well I guess I can create a lot of copies of me so I can beat up a lot of people at the same time!"

"That's one, I guess, but are there any others?"

"Not that I can think of." Now Naruto was confused, he had used the shadow clone many times and besides the fact that he could destroy an opponent by numbers alone, he couldn't think of anything else it could do.

"Well then let me tell you." Kakashi began. "If one of you shadow clones learns something, it can disperse and you gain any of its memories it gained. Got it?"

"Uhhhh…no."

"What he means is that when your clones learn something you learn it," sakura said, annoyed with how thick Naruto could be.

"Ohhhhhhh!" Naruto said, his face brightening. "But what does that have to do with my training?"

Kakashi mentally faced palmed, but kept his normal aloof exterior. He really thought that Naruto was smarter than this.

"Think about it Naruto, if your shadow clones are able to learn things for you, what would happen if you trained with them?" Kakashi asked, hoping his student would get it. It wasn't really all that hard to figure out

"Ummmm…" Naruto scrunched up his face in his 'thoughtful' pose, and after a few moments of silence Naruto's face lit up. "I could learn things way faster! Right?"

"Right! With this new training method you can learn things way faster than you have before. Shall we get started?"

"Um, Kakashi sensei, is this how you got to be so strong?" Naruto asked.

"No, in fact this is a completely new training method that I just recently came up with. Not to mention the fact that you are one of the few people who could actually use this method."

"Why's that sensei?"

"Because you have extremely high chakra reserves and very high stamina. If someone who didn't have high reserves and stamina tried this method they would suffer from chakra depletion."

Needless to say, it made Naruto very pleased to hear that he could do something that most other people couldn't. Kakashi noticed this and decided to intervene so that it didn't go to his head.

"Enough questions, it's time to get to work. Naruto, you will be sparing with your shadow clones to establish the strengths and weaknesses of you taijutsu, have your clones find any holes in you defence so that you can fix them. Sakura, you will be doing laps around the training feild to increase your chakra reserves. After that we will take a quick break, and then we will be doing group training. Got it?"

Two nods were his reply.

"Good, now get to work."

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Hours later when they were done with training, Naruto was walking through town, exhausted. After sparring with himself, they had a quick lunch break. Then Kakashi announced his plan for their so called 'group training', which turned out to be an hour of him throwing blunt kunai and shuriken at them while they had to dodge. Even though the weapons were blunt they still hurt. Naruto had suffered from many scrapes and bruises that were healing at a slow pace. After training he left to go get something to eat at his favorite eating establishment, Ichiraku Ramen. When he finally arrived he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Welcome to Ichiraku." He heard as he sat on an empty stool.

"Ohaiyo, Ayame-chan." He replied

"Ah, Naruto our favorite customer, what will it be today?" Teuchi said as he enter exited the back room of the store.

"One miso ramen, please!"

"Coming right up!"

A few minutes later Naruto was in peace. He had just finished a long day of training, and now he was winding down with a steaming bowl of ramen. All in all it was a great day.

"When I become hokage I'm going to make this place famous." He said as he finished his bowl. "You'll have to open up a full restaurant and everything; you may even have to open up a franchise! People will be coming from miles around to get a taste of the famous Ichiraku Ramen!"

"Did I just hear someone claim they were going to become hokage?" a voice asked from behind them. In walked a man with long white hair and a red jacket over a green shirt and red lines on his face.

"Yeah, what's it to ya' old man?" Naruto relied.

"Old man? Show some respect you brat you brat, do you know who I am?" This definitely wasn't going how Jiraiya was hoping. He was planning on 'accidently' running into Naruto and introducing himself, maybe getting to know him, asking him if he needed help with his training. He hadn't counted on his own short temper or naruto's lack of manners.

"Why should I? You look like an old pervert to me." Naruto said, happy he was getting a rise out of the old man. The look on his face was hilarious. It was starting to get difficult to suppress his smile.

Ayame and Teuchi, who both knew who Jiraiya was, were worried for Naruto's safety. They knew that Naruto wasn't the most respectful person, but to mouth of to one of the strongest ninjas in history was dangerous.

Jiraiya was outraged. Sure, he was a pervert, but that wasn't how he was supposed to be known. And how could this kid have known? "I am Jiraiya of the sannin, the legendary three! The toad sage! Wildly successful author and Sensei of the fourth Hokage! Show some respect you little brat!"

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down. Did you just say you were the Fourth Hokage's teacher?"

"You bet I was."

"So you must be really powerful and know a bunch of cool techniques, right?"

"Sure do."

"Can you teach me some of them? Please!"

"Why should I? You've been nothing but rude to me."

"Because I need to get stronger!"

This answer didn't surprise him in the least. Most young shinobi wanted to get stronger. What happened next, however, did surprise him.

"Why do you need to get stronger?" he asked.

Suddenly Naruto's whole attitude changed. His head slumped, his face in a state of seriousness, and his voice low. "So I can protect the people close to me."

This, in Jiraiya's opinion, was one of the noblest reasons to gain strength. Naruto was definitely his father's son.

"Okay Gaki, are you going to train tomorrow?"

A nod.

"How about I come by and watch you train. If I like what I see I might show you a few things."

Suddenly Naruto was back to his usual self. He had a silly grin and was practically bounce in his seat from joy.

"I promise you, you'll like what you see, believe it!"

And with that he ran home to get some res for the following day.

"Okay, now that that's over, can I get a pork ramen to go?" Jiraiya asked. "I've got important research to do."

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So that's chapter three. Sorry about the wait, again. I made the mistake many people do when they start their first story, which is to start with out knowing which direction the story was headed. Any way, review please. It helps the process immensely.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (not that you didn't already know that I mean seriously it's FANfiction for a reason, isn't it?)

_Today is the day, _Naruto thought as he got dressed. _If I do well today I can get one of the sannin to teach me. _With that thought in mind he went through his morning rituals with a smile on his face. After a few cups of ramen for his breakfast, ho bolted through the door of his apartment, ran outside and jumped onto the rooftops and made his way to the training grounds.

Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched as he made his way through town.

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Jiraiya watched his favorite student's son while hiding in a tree away from the blondes view. When he had first met the boy, he was impressed with how much he looked like his father, and was furthermore impressed by his goal of becoming hokage. He also noted how much his personality matched his mothers.

He was definitely starting to like the idea of taking him on as a student. It had been a long time since he had taught anyone anything. Maybe it would be worth it to take on the role of sensei once again.

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When Naruto reached the training ground he saw sakura waiting for him. He walked over to her and stood next to her.

"Good morning Sakura-chan."

"Good morning, Naruto."

The next few minutes they stood in semi-comfortable silence while waiting for Kakashi. At one point Naruto thought he saw a flash of white, but when he looked at where it came from he saw nothing. After a few more minutes Kakashi arrived.

"Yo" he said as he landed beside them.

"Wow Kakashi-sensei your only a few minutes late today, are you trying to set a personal record?" Naruto asked.

"No, I lost a bet to Gai, so now I have to show up to places within ten minutes of the designated time for a month. I think its revenge for me making him go without green spandex the last time I won. Anyway, shall we get started?"

Two nods.

"Okay, today I am going to teach you something most people your age wont learn for a while. It utilizes the same technique as tree climbing, but is a little bit different. Instead of climbing trees you will be walking on water."

"Seriously? That is so cool!" Naruto said.

"Now if you'll follow me we will be going to the stream at the edge of the training grounds."

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Kakashi smirked as he watched his clone lead his students through the forest to the stream they would be practicing on. When he first arrived he was surprised to sense a chakra signature he hadn't felt in years. He decided to let a clone take over so he could investigate. The signature was moving in the same direction as his students so he figured now would be a good time to approach the person. As he leapt through the trees he recognized a familiar red vest and mane of white hair.

"Jiraiya-sama, I thought that was you he called out.

"Kakashi," Jiraiya said as he stopped on a tree branch to face the cyclopes, "I was wondering when you would reveal you self."

"What are you doing here Jiraiya?" he asked.

"I made a deal with the Gaki that if he impressed me I might help with his training."

"Really now, why would you do such a thing?"

Jiraiya was silent for a moment, as if thinking about how to proceed. "Lets just call it a favor to an old friend, shall we? Now shouldn't you go take care of your students? I think they are starting to get the hang of water walking. Oh and by the way, are you the one who gave him the idea to train with clones?"

"Yes, I was."

"Impressive, now you better get going."

Kakashi waited for an opportunity when his students weren't looking and then replaced himself with his clone with a wave goodbye to the sannin. Neither of his students noticed the switch.

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A few hours into the exercise Sakura had it down. Her superior chakra control helped her get it down easy. She was now running around on top of the stream with ease. Naruto was practicing with twenty shadow clones, but they were still having trouble. Their ankles were still beneath the water.

"Wow Sakura-chan, you're really good at this."

**That's right I am awesome! Shannaro! **Inner sakura yelled.

"Thank you, Naruto. Why don't you try dispelling them so you can learn what they learn?" she suggested

"Oh yeah, good idea." He said. In a large cloud of smoke all of the clones dispersed at the same time.

"AAHHHH!" Naruto yelled out as he fell into the water. He still hadn't gotten used to the information overload that happened every time he dispersed his clones while changing.

"Maybe you should have gone to the shore first." Sakura suggested, trying to hide the smile growing on her face.

"Yeah that might have been a good idea." Naruto replied. Luckily for him the stream was very shallow, only about knee deep, but he was still soaking wet. "Okay I'm going to try this again." He stood up and sent chakra to the soles of his feet and started to rise to the surface of the water.

"I think I've got it!" he yelled as he started to run across the surface of the water. Seeing this, Kakashi walked out to where they were practicing.

"Now that you two have gotten this down I want you two to spar while maintaining your chakra control so you stay on top of the stream."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei." They said in unison, sliding into taijutsu stances.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this is an anything goes spar, weapons and jutsu are allowed, GO!"

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto created ten shadow clones, while Sakura created three bunshins and grabbed a kunai from her pouch. Naruto sent three of his clones to attack them and find the real one. The bunshins were dispersed by kunai, while the real Sakura deflected the one thrown at her then jumped back to avoid the clones that were trying to engage her in hand to hand combat..

She then took out three more kunai from her pouch and threw them at the clones, causing them do disappear in puffs of smoke. Unfortunately for her she didn't see the two that were swimming under her until they grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her underwater.

"Alright, Naruto wins this match." Kakashi said from the sidelines "Now comeback to the shore and dry off."

As Sakura crawled out of the water Naruto ran back to the shore and approached Kakashi.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, have you seen anybody around here watching us, some dorky looking guy with white hair and a red vest?" Naruto asked.

"Who you calling dorky, you little brat?" a voice called from the trees.

Kakashi sighed. "You might as well come out now Jiraiya!" Kakashi yelled back to the trees as sakura walked up next to Naruto, both were still soaking wet from their falls into the river.

Jiraiya walked out from the tree line and up to the three awaiting shinobi.

"Well what did you think?" Naruto asked, eager to know if the man in front of him was willing to help him with his training.

"Settle down boy, before I do anything I think the three of four of us should have a talk so your teammate can be up to speed. Why don't we go somewhere for lunch?"

Naruto was about to suggest that they go to Ichiraku's for his favorite food, but both Kakashi and sakura stopped him before he could. So they decided to go to one of the local Dango shops. When they arrived they placed their orders and sat down.

Kakashi began. "Sakura, I am sure you have questions about who this man is and I am sure he would be very willing to answer them. So, do you have any questions?"

"yeah, who is he, why is he hear, why was Naruto asking him what he thought of the training, how come I've never seen him in the village before-"

Kakashi cut her off "why don't we just start with those questions for now?" he then turned to Jiraiya. "Why don't you start by introducing yourself?"

"I am Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin, the toad mountain sage, student of the Third Hokage and trainer of the Fourth. I am also the world's biggest author. Women want me Men want to be me. Look on in awe as I AM JIRAIYA!" his voice got louder and louder through his impromptu speech, to the point at the end where he was standing up and yelling at the end. When he realized everybody in the shop was looking at him he sat down quietly.

"Oh yeah I was going to ask you about the book thing," Naruto began. "what is it exactly that you wrote?"

"You know those books that your sensei is always reading." Two nods. "I wrote the entire series." He said with a proud look on face.

There was a moment of silence, then-

"So I was right!" Naruto yelled, standing up on his chair. "You are a pervert!"

"Shut up kid!" Jiraiya hissed. "Don't make me rethink my offer."

Naruto reluctantly sat down as Sakura raised her hand. "That's my next question. What is this offer you're talking about?"

"Straight to the point I guess," Jiraiya started. "Well I met your little brat of a teammate yesterday at a ramen shop. He was spouting off about becoming hokage"-

_Sure sounds like Naruto_ Sakura thought.

-"so I introduced myself and when he heard me say I trained the previous hokage he practically begged me to train him"

"I didn't beg!"

"Anyway, for a while now I have been thinking about the benefits of taking on a new student, so I decided that if the little brat impressed me I would take him on as a part time student, and he did. Don't worry though; you two will still be a team and Kakashi will still be your teacher. I will only be taking him occasionally for some much needed part time training."

"While Jiraiya is working with Naruto I will be taking you on for your own one on one training, so you will not be neglected." Kakashi said.

"So when do we start?" Naruto asked his excitement obvious.

"Tomorrow." Jiraiya replied. "Now if you excuse me, I have some important research to do." And with that he finished his dango and left the shop.

"Now before you two leave, I have something important to talk to you about." Kakashi said in a very serious tone. "it involves the Chuunin exams that are coming up next month."

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Dun Dun Dun! Cliffhanger! Sorry for the wait. I really hope you find this chapter worth the wait. Please review, and as always, suggestions are helpful.


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